Slack deflects credit he deserves

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 6, 2001

Dick Slack isn't biting.

In the aftermath of Lecanto's first winning season, an achievement that took the program only 18 seasons to accomplish, the seventh-year coach has been given every opportunity to pump himself up and take credit for this success. But he won't. That's not his style.

The credit, he says, belongs to the players.

We all know better.

"He gets all of the credit for everything," Panthers senior Jeff Yearwood said. "He taught us what we needed to do and we went out and did it. He never doubted us. He always knew we could come back from anything."

In August, Slack said the Panthers had the potential to be the best team in school history, better even than the 1999 squad that went 5-6 and was the program's first playoff participant. He saw something in them that he hadn't seen in previous groups.

Chemistry. Desire. Maturity. Work ethic.

They are what all winning teams have.

"The one thing that impressed me about this group more than anything was that they were there at practice every day, and even though we pushed them as hard as we could I never heard a discouraging word," Slack said. "There was never a complaint, and they were all willing to do what we asked them to do and that's rare."

Slack's team had the personality of its coach. They enjoyed what they did. They stayed focused after wins. And they never got too deflated after losses. Slack wouldn't let them. Remember, this is the guy who said, even while enduring an 0-10 season in 2000, that going to work every day was a pleasure.

"He kept us motivated," Panthers quarterback Phil Reed said. "Before every game, he'd give us a speech and we'd want to go out and win like we were playing in the Super Bowl."

Every game was the Super Bowl to Slack.

In wins and losses, no matter the score, he coached the same. He stayed on his players from the first day of practice until the last play of the season. Against Eustis, Lecanto was so far ahead that Slack could have coasted in the second half. Instead, he spent the game's final moments screaming at a player for missing a block.

"He held us to our jobs," Panthers junior Bruce Emberley said. "He made us work in practice and wouldn't accept second best."

If you saw this team play, you know its success was not a fluke. The Panthers struggled in games against Crystal River, Dunnellon and North Marion. But then again, who didn't? Those teams are a combined 24-5. All three are in the playoffs. Against everybody else, Lecanto went 6-1. And the Panthers finished second in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, ahead of Central, which is 7-2 and captured a district title.

Many of the teams Lecanto beat humiliated the Panthers in 2000.

"He always told us not to forget what happened last year," running back Jarvis Patterson said. "And he would tell us before every game, "Don't forget how bad this team beat you last time.' But he also told us, win or lose, that he still loved us."

And they love him, because whether Slack wants to believe it or not, those players know they wouldn't be where they are today without Slack's blood, sweat and tears.

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